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'Hemlock Grove' as Gothic Tale
The Netflix series "Hemlock Grove" dares to employ authentic Gothic storytelling on television for a modern American audience. Using tropes of horror as well, the series unfolds its story in a deliberate and literary way. It doesn't shy away from layers of meaning, symbolism, mythology or complex characters. Deliberately, thoughtfully and originally, it tells the Gothic story of a community, family and finally two individuals disintegrating and falling into evil. These dark elements are interwoven and seem largely inevitable because of their dark and shared history. Wrters Choose Their Poison: Gothic or Horror? When anyone starts to write, direct or produce "horror" stories, one of the most helpful questions he or she can ask is "Am I really doing a horror story?" This may sound like a strange question, but actually there is much confusion nowadays between horror and Gothic storylines. The two genres are closely related but remain totally different animals. There are other similar questions the writer should also ask as well. If you want to do horror, is your story really Gothic with a horror disguise? Is it Gothic horror, and if so, how much is it one or the other? Most people can easily distinguish horror stories, but don't have a clue about what constitutes the Gothic tale. Horror is scary, right? The fear element definitely predominates. Gothic may or may not be scary. If it's Gothic and scary, you have Gothic horror. The first Gothic story (actually a novel) was written by Horace Walpole in England in 1764, a ghost story of sorts titled The Castle of Otranto. Its success began a thriving literary trend, first in England and then, by the nineteenth century, all over the world. The horror genre sprang from Gothic literature during the early 1800s, almost simultaneously in Great Britain and the U.S. By 1850, horror stories were a thriving genre all their own worldwide, along with their purely Gothic brethren. Incidentally, not only horror, but crime drama, Medieval-type fantasy (think "Middle Earth"), and even science fiction all originated from the Gothic literary stream. The Differences: Gothic Vs. Horror in Fiction So what is Gothic fiction? Chris Baldick's "Introduction" to The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales defines a Gothic text as being made up of "a fearful sense of inheritance in time with a claustrophobic sense of enclosure in space, these two dimensions reinforcing one another to produce an impression of a sickening descent into disintegration." I would add that the agent producing this disintegration is of a supernatural, preternatural (mysterious/unknown), or fantasy/psychotic-related origin. So, for a story to be Gothic, some kind of dark history has to be there. For example, an evil from the past confronts a group of people in an isolated area. The isolation equals claustrophobia. So how does this group react? If the fear element is strong, you have Gothic horror. On the other hand, such a story can be merely suspenseful, without being scary at all. Keep in mind that the claustrophobic setting or "area" can also be within a person’s own mind, for example, someone in an extremely dreamy, deranged, drug-induced or nearly psychotic state. An essential element of the Gothic is almost always "romance," either the erotic or literary type, or both. What is "literary" Romanticism? Well, check out the classic American horror author, Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849). His stories are mostly lacking in man/woman romance but are full of dark, literary Romanticism, that is, things like old castles and ruins, persons near madness, damned souls, unspeakable desires, darkly mysterious elements, people attaining "freedom" as stark isolation and so on. Just as Baldick leaves out the supernatural, which surely "haunts" much within the Gothic territory, he omits romance and Romanticism as well. Nowadays, if you want to write a good Gothic story, especially one that sells, "romantic" almost always means a male and female in love. To hold your audience in today's world, you need to have a strong romantic interest to animate your plot. "Hemlock Grove" is no exception, with its steamy, innocent and tragic love story of Peter and Letha. Since this is a Gothic story, at least one of them must ''die before the tale is finished. Doomed or daunting love is the Gothic romantic theme par excellence. However, you can also have it both ways, as does Emily Brontë (English, 1818-1848) in her novel ''Wuthering Heights. Brontë's main storyline is about a tragic romance (the lovers both die), but she manages to insert a romantic subplot with a happy ending. Also, her story contains both literary and man-woman romance. Volumes have been written about the relation between the Gothic and the Romantic. All you really need to know about the two is that to write a successful Gothic story, in the words of the song, "You can't have one without the other." Also, keep in mind that "romantic" means a lot more then just sex, love and "romance." Interestingly, Wuthering Heights is mentioned in "Hemlock Grove," including its Byronic hero, Heathcliff. Byronic heroes are a staple of Gothic stories, a trope or convention if you will (see below). The Byronic hero is a character, usually male, who has good, heroic qualities but ultimately succumbs to his dark, evil side. If this type of hero sounds familiar from "Hemlock Grove," Roman certainly fits the bill, as he develops in Season One. If Emily Brontë (and her sister Charlotte, 1816-1855) typify the romantic end of the Gothic spectrum, authors like Poe and H.P. Lovecraft (also American, 1890-1937) champion the horror side. With these authors, the evil from the past confronts and overwhelms its lonely, forsaken victims, and they're usually damned forever. Whether the main characters in Gothic horror are trapped in a threatening location or within their own tormented souls, they writhe in abject fear until they meet their untimely demise, or worse, a "lifetime" of some type of living death, insanity, agony or eternal condemnation. Gothic & Horror Stories in Hollywood & Film Prehaps a few examples are in order here. In film, an excellent example of a "purely" Gothic tale is The Sixth Sense (1999). Called by Hollywood a "supernatural thriller," this story is actually Gothic in the best sense of the word. Without retelling the whole plot line here (the film is available on DVD if you haven't seen it), let's check out why Gothic story elements clearly predominate. The main character feels trapped by what happened to him in his own past history and senses a disintegration and isolation in his life, all of which he cannot understand. The theme of the supernatural is established early on by the boy with strange visions of dead persons. The romantic element clearly predominates, with the focus on the main character's relationship with his wife, and in fact this entire story turns on this man's undying love for her. In the end, the tragic reason his life has "fallen apart" stunningly reveals itself. Death has indeed triumphed over love, but there's a final hope that love can be stronger than death. This is authentic Gothic stuff and could have easily been penned by a modern American version of Emily or Charlotte Brontë. The film's writer-director, M. Night Shyamalan (Indian-American, b. 1970) went on during the next decade to establish himself as one of the Gothic masters of Hollywood film. On the other hand, stories like the Friday the 13th film series (first film directed by Sean S. Cunningham in 1980, spawning a raft of sequels and a remake!) represent total horror, for better or worse. Cunningham (American, b. 1941) and his successors didn't throw much of the Gothic or romantic into these stories, in any sense of either word (these films also available on DVD, if you don't mind the blood). The films' plots are like gory "funhouse" rides and depend entirely on shock, panic and the fear factor. In most horror stories, good conquers evil, but often the opposite can happen as well. Regardless, these stories invariably end in a feeling of devastation, a kind of breathless exhaustion like most people feel after a traumatic or terrorizing experience. In better-done virtually "pure" horror stories, for example, The Exorcist ''(1973, American, directed by William Friedkin) fear compounds fear until a final suspense sequence pays off with near-unbearable fright. The conflict between the good and bad characters (or bad "monsters") becomes a near-epic struggle against jeopardy that, at every turn, could possibly end in death. On the other hand, really bad horror tales have a near-pornographic feel to them as plot and characters come off as just "filler" between the often grisly, blood-filled scare scenes. One feels sense of impatience when there's no violence or gore happening, a desire to "speed things up" so the plot can get on to the next horrific scene. Keep in mind that horror can be gory and visual or driven by more psychological, unseen menaces. The offstage tends to be more powerful because it leaves much to the imagination. An unseen, ubiquitous menace has the uncanny ability to generate powerhouses worth of suspense. Still, shock and awe predominate in pure horror, and good authors in the genre milk human hormones, sexual, as well as adrenalin and others, for every drop of thrill they can provide. Combining the Two Dark Genres Gothic horror provides a broader story canvas because it can blend and play off both genres. Poe and Lovecraft demonstrated this ability in its most classic sense. Modern authors like Stephen King (American, b. 1947) and Anne Rice (American, b. 1941) continue writing in this tradition. Examples of Gothic horror abound, including stories about vampires, werewolves, exorcists, Frankenstein types, succubae, incubi, and undead ghosts. In film and television, storytellers who delve into these elements turn to the Universal Studios 1930s classics of the genres, like ''Dracula ''(1931), ''Frankenstein ''(1932) and ''The Wolf Man (1939). The author of "Hemlock Grove," Brian McGreevy, has said he drew from his experiences in high school and considers the book's setting as a Through the Looking Glass version of his hometown of Pittsburgh. He also commented that while the characters of Roman and Shelley were derived from the fictional characters of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein ''and Bram Stoker's ''Dracula, he drew more from the films based on these characters and from Greek mythology as a whole. Vampire stories are excellent examples of marrying the Gothic with horror. Of course, "Hemlock Grove" evokes the vampiric via the vampire-like legend of the upir. By its very nature, the vampire tale can combine themes of entrapment, evil history, disintegration, and the supernatural equally with stark, awesome terror. In nice addition, the male vampire, as an object of desire, can pump the hormones totally while inspiring romance at the same time. Lately, even female vampires have been stirring up their share of fictional and cinematic libido. What an amazing character type! Bram Stoker (Irish, 1847-1912) created the model of the modern vampire with his classic 1897 novel Dracula. These ubiquitous blood-suckers have become a main staple of Gothic horror ever since, and McGeavy's upir are simply a variation on the same theme. Series Synopsis What is "Hemlock Grove" all about? The series is set in the town of Hemlock Grove, Pennsylvania. The town is a mixture of extreme wealth and poverty, as the closing of the town's steel mill many years earlier caused many to lose their jobs. The town's main sources of employment are now the Hemlock Acres Hospital and Godfrey Institute for Biomedical Technologies. Run by the powerful Godfrey family, the Institute is rumored to conduct sinister experiments on a daily basis. The town's rumor mill turns even more twisted when two teenage girls are brutally killed and their bodies left for unsuspecting people to find the next day. Peter Rumancek, a 17-year-old Romani ("Gipsy"), is suspected of the crimes by some of the townsfolk and is also rumored to be a werewolf. While he is secretly a werewolf, he is not the killer. Along with the heir to the Godfrey estate, Roman, he sets out to solve the mystery. Who or what is the "rogue werewolf" or varghulf, that is responible for the murders? Gothic Tropes & Storylines in 'Hemlock Grove' So how does the Gothic literary genre express itself in "Hemlock Grove?" Actually in two major ways: through the storylines and the use of Gothic tropes (literary conventions). This section explains both and seeks to link these elements to historic Gothic subjects, as discussed earlier. Series Storyline As the previous synopsis explains, the story is mainly a crime drama, or "whodunit" (itself a derivitive from the Gothic genre), and a mystery with a supernatural twist. The plot throws the two young men, Peter and Roman, together as a kind of "Hardy Boys" pair who try to track down the killer. At first Roman and then finally the entire community are thrown into a troubled psyche and then paranoia by the bizarre mystery. Here are the essential Gothic elements of the story: *'Dark History': Several flashbacks during the series show the Godfrey family's tragic, evil and dysfunctional history. Also, much of the sad Romani history of Peter's family is revealed as well. Essentially, "Hemlock Grove" is a tale of two families, the Godfreys and Rumanceks, who seem to be polar opposites. The families contrast rich and poor, community-bound and nomadic, simple and complicated, cold and loving, loyal and unfaithful, jaded and hopeful, cynical and romantic. However, both families are bound by common threads. First there is the centraity of their heritage to supernatural beings, upir ''and werewolf. Also, both families have enough dark misdeeds in their history to create a dynamic past that comes back to "bite" them in the end (no pun intended). *'Claustrophobic Present': A small town is an ideal closed-in environment. Hemlock Grove is the name of the series and forms the tight boundaries of the story. It's a friendly community but is also prone to gossip, racism, pettiness, hate, snobbery, poverty and even lynch-mob violence. At one point, Peter and his mother Lynda try to run away, but they cannot. Clemtine Chasseur wants to leave town and her holy order once her "job" is finished, but she dies before she can make it. The Godfrey famiily is "stuck" there for better or worse. The town encloses them all and becomes a claustrophobic barrier no one can escape. *'Inevitable Disintegration': As the story progresses, a sickening sort of disintegration sets in, eating at the hearts of all the major characters. Circumstances trap Peter and Lynda, and they cannot leave, indeed they turn from hunters into hunted. Roman tries to become a hero and ends up being a monster. Norman desires a new life and ends up being a kind of "living dead." Letha wants to be a mother and instead dies in childbirth. Clementine seeks freedom and finds death. Christina wants to be a superhuman being but degenerates into a serial killer. Even the town itself moves from order into chaos as paranoia propels the sheriff and community into seeking mob violence against the Rumanceks. *'Supernatural Agency': The werewolf, ''varghulf ''and ''upir ''beings propel the story along as dynamic supernatural agents of change. These creatures are products of Medieval folklore, and the author uses them to serve the story well. All stories turn on "plot points" when the main characters' motivations change. The main characters here are Peter, Roman and Christina. They drive the story, and they all are or turn out to be one of these supernatural agents, werewolf and vampiric, whose characteristics become clearly defined by the telling of the story. These four fundamental story elements are classic Gothic themes, and working together, they form the basis from which the entire plot springs. Series Tropes Here are some prominent examples from the series, of classic Gothic tropes that figure importantly in the story: *Werewolves and vampires (in the series, ''upir): Supernatural beings as explained earlier. *Ruined buildings: Ruins of a factory (the "Castle Godfrey") and a church. *Young girls/women trapped or doomed by circumstance: Shelly and Letha. *Byronic heroes: Roman, as explained earlier. *Exotic, primitive or natural peoples trespassing in the today: The Romani people. *Magic spells: Becoming important elements in the story. *Innocence that cloaks profound or supernatural evil: Christina. *Serial killers: Again, Christina. *Ancient religious orders: Clementine and the Order of the Dragon. *The mad scientist: Dr. Pryce. *Ancient evil invading the present causing disintegration: As explained earlier. *Claustrophobic setting: As explained earlier. *Freakish and deformed individuals: Shelly. *Aristocratic family in a mansion: Trying to control all events. *Individuals with good intentions becoming evil: Roman and Christina Note that most of these tropes, used differently of course, are also Romantic conventions as well. Also, these are standard tropes of horror as well. For a good example of the author's using one of these tropes, think of the Godfrey family. Here is a historic, aristocratic (and wealthy) family with an old mansion, a dark past and control over the surrounding community. The family also nurtures supernatural beings. The mansion houses a son who is the prototype of a Byronic hero and a girl who is repressed, watched over, freakish and sure to meet a sad end. The family head (here a matriarch) rules and broods over his family like an evil empress. This is a typical Gothic situation. It may not be scary, but it certainly is interesting! Could 'Hemlock Grove' Be Horror? Most of the same tropes mentioned above could easily exist in a horror story as well. For example, werewolves, vampires, mad scientists, ancient evils, Byronic heroes, serial killers and claustrophobic settings all occur in horror stories. However, the author of "Hemlock Grove" creates a Gothic, not a horror story. The proof is in the story itself. To tell whether it's horror or Gothic, ask the simple question: "Does the fear factor dominate the story?" The purpose of "Hemlock Grove" is drama, not fear. Of course, there are definitely fearful and suspenseful moments in the story. One can argue that, even in comedies, there are moments of fear. Still, fear does not dominate the tale, nor is it even the story's main point. The drama among the characters and between the two families drives the story along. Fear is just a by-product and seasoning. Just a Good Gothic Tale So, the main rule is don't confuse the two genres. Folks may not be able to define "Gothic" or even horror (hopefully you can, now!), but they still know either one when they see it. More importantly, they know when the genres have been botched. "Hemlock Grove" wisely uses tropes and storylines to create an excellent modern Gothic story. It may not be "horrifying," but it is dramatic, intriguiging and just plain fun.